The Star chief reporter Brenda Harwood has been out and about in the first week of the festival, soaking up the atmosphere. The 10-day festival continues until Sunday. Here are some of the events seen.
Wahine Mātātoa
The fascinating life story of a fierce and independent wahine Māori ancestor was explored by Dunedin playwright and actor Cindy Diver in a return season of her extraordinary play Wahine Mātātoa — The (Mostly) True Story of Erihāpeti Pātahi.
Directed by Hilary Halba and Diver herself, last Friday’s performance at Allen Hall Theatre featured brilliant young actresses Millie Manning and Grace Turipa in the central roles of Elizabeth Brown and her fiercely independent Kāi Tahu ancestor Erihāpeti Pātahi.
Simon Anderson and Diver took on an array of supporting roles, playing variously parents, mates, partners, judges and colonisers, often to hilarious effect.
An evocative soundscape was created with live taoka puoro composed by Ruby Solly and Madison Kelly and performed by Kelly.
With its fascinating combination of historic and modern stories steeped in tikanga Māori, and superb performances, Wahine Mātātoa was an impressive achievement.
Pōtaka Nautilus & Pepe
Beautiful, evocative dance imagery combined with stunning taonga pūoro performance in Good Company Arts’ Pōtaka Nautilus & Pepe on Saturday at the Glenroy Auditorium.
Creating a live soundtrack to the mesmerising dance films by Daniel Belton projected on a giant screen were four leading taonga pūoro musicians — Mahina Kingi-Kaui, Ariana Tikao, Dr Ruby Solly, and Alistair Fraser, advised by Dunedin-based composer Dame Gillian Karawe Whitehead.
Electronic music design by Kano added to the extraordinary soundscape of this absorbing, contemplative work.
Reimagining Mozart
The vaulted ceilings of St Paul’s Cathedral provided the perfect acoustics for the glorious sound of Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir is a wondrous performance of Reimagining Mozart on Sunday.
Composed by Robert Wiremu, this extraordinarily beautiful and moving piece takes Mozart’s Requiem and cleverly adjusts it in tribute to those lost in the Mt Erebus disaster in 1979.
Voices NZ and a hard-working chamber orchestra, presented by Chamber Music NZ, were brilliant throughout, bringing the work’s emotions to the fore, while managing its evocative alterations with pinpoint accuracy.
DSO at Six — Echoes Through Time
The DSO at Six chamber music series continued on Monday at Hanover Hall with "Echoes Through Time" — a fun and fascinating exploration of music from Mozart to Crumb.
Curated by pianist Tom McGrath, the concert featured a mix of superb local and visiting musicians, including Bridget Douglas (flute), Nick Cornish (oboe), Grant Baker (oboe), Heleen Du Plessis (cello), Carolyn Mills (harp) and McGrath himself, in a variety of combinations.
The concert featured Mozart’s Adagio and Rondo, Debussy’s Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp, Auric’s Aria for Flute and Piano, and Honneger’s Danse de la Chevre for solo flute, before the extraordinary finale George Crumb’s Vox Balaenea (Voice of the Whale).
Each of the pieces was sensitively performed in a wonderful showcase of musicianship.
